We were lucky to catch up with Ronnie Logan recently and have shared our conversation below.

Ronnie, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Risking taking is a huge part of most people’s story but too often society overlooks those risks and only focuses on where you are today. Can you talk to us about a risk you’ve taken – it could be a big risk or a small one – but walk us through the backstory.

My whole journey of founding Ronnie’s BBQ (now The Original Ronnie’s BBQ) has been one big risk after another…but you know what they say “no risk, no reward”. I’ve always loved to cook, and smoke meats, and things like that but it wasn’t until I got laid off that I decided to take the risk of running my own business and actually making a living out of this BBQ thing.

Thru the years there have been ups and downs, and more and more risks…deciding to be on the Food Network, while an amazing opportunity…it was a risk, and it was a risk that almost closed me down. You have to be prepared for things like that, and at that time the supply couldn’t meet the demand once that show aired and it almost cost me.

I’ve taken risks in partnering with others on this vision that I had… some good, some not so good.

But every risk I’ve taken has been a part of a bigger picture and a bigger plan that I myself can’t even see…God’s plan is always bigger and I trust that we, at the Original Ronnie’s BBQ are now really beginning to see the fruits of our labor and the rewards outweigh the risks.

Awesome – so before we get into the rest of our questions, can you briefly introduce yourself to our readers.

I am Ronnie Logan, Sr., Founder of The Original Ronnie’s BBQ and a Varina native through and through. I am a husband, a father, and a grandfather. I am a lover of God and a lover of BBQ {laughing}.

I’ve been around great cooks and things all my life, my father loved to BBQ when I was young and my mother and grandmother were great cooks in their own right. Food is something that always brought my family together sp it seems now, in hindsight, only fitting that The Original Ronnie’s BBQ be that place for others….a place where you can get good food and the love of the Logan Family all wrapped into one!

The Original Ronnie’s BBQ is located right in Varina where I have lived my entire life…I’ve lived right on this same road for 70+ years, and wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. I’ve seen this area change and I see it changing every day, but the one constant that I would like to see even beyond me, is the constant that is The Original Ronnie’s BBQ remain. We are a staple in this community, we love the people that stop by, even if it’s just to say hello and sit a spell at the picnic tables….I just love it.

This is what sets us apart from anyone else….there are alot of people that are selling food, and BBQ too, but the thing that makes us different, the thing that sets us apart…is we do it from the heart…we do it because we love it…if we didn’t it would show. Are we for everybody? No. But the loyal customer base that we have created is something special, you don’t get that everywhere…but you get it here, at The Original Ronnie’s BBQ.

I’m still outside on the smoker…I’m still greeting the customers as they drive up….I’m still holding up the line talking a little longer than I should {laughs}…but that’s what makes us different. It’s not JUST about the food…even though our food is delicious…it’s about the love.

I tell people every single time…I can give you the recipe to everything I’ve got on the menu…it will never taste the same as ours, because the secret sauce is us….its the love we pour into everything we do.

And I don’t do this alone…The Original Ronnie’s BBQ is family owned and family operated. My son is here, my wife is here, my niece and nephews are here, my sisters are here. My grandchildren and great nieces and nephews have worked here. We do this together. I think that is one thing I’m most proud of, we are a family owned and family operated, us being able to provide a space for the young people to come and work and know that they are a part of something bigger. They may not understand it at the time, because with young people it’s just a job…it’s just a way to get a paycheck to buy the latest sneaker or the newest video game…but this is ours, and I hope it lasts for generations to come.

How did you build your audience on social media?

I am not the most social savvy person out there, I’m from the old school so all of the new technology and things like that I’m not really into it. But my niece, Missy Mangrum, she came in and she handles all of our social media, our marketing, our press releases and all of those things….because again, this is a family business!

Missy says,

“The best thing to do is be your most authentic self on Social Media. When I came in there was quite the clean up process on our social channels from what was happening prior to us becoming The Original Ronnie’s BBQ, but once we became clear on what the vision was for this brand things started to fall into place. For me it is not JUST about selling food, it’s about creating an experience for our customers.

I try not to DO social, but BE social. If I were to look at social media as something I had to DO it would never get done, because the TO-DO list is a mile long every single day as a business owner and wearer of many hats here at The Original Ronnie’s BBQ …but as we go thru our normal routine of doing the work, it’s alot easier to get social content.

I also focus on our own email and text message lists to ensure we are engaging our customer base on more than just platforms that don’t belong to us. We can go weeks without posting on social media, but our customers are still consistently engaged with our email marketing and now our new text message marketing.

Another part of building our audience is building the proper relationships with people in real life…so becoming a part of organization such as the Metropolitan Business League and Richmond Black Restaurant Experience, has helped me to connect us to people off line and build those strong connections that allow us to grow.

So my biggest piece of advise…don’t DO social…BE social….and let things happen organically”

How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?

I think 2020 was a pivotal moment for alot of business owners, but our pivot point was crucial in the success or failure of our business.

Prior to covid, we were primarily a takeaway spot, however, you could come inside and order have face to face interactions at the counter…because we’re a family that loves to engage our customers so that was something we enjoyed.

Then the pandemic hit and things were shut down! As they started to open back up, we realized that our space is small, we can’t have people coming up to the counter and ordering food face to face anymore so what are we going to do.

At the time we hadn’t even been offering phone ordering, and I think our online ordering may have even been fairly new.
So we implemented call ahead ordering and curbside pickup…and that was trial and error at it’s finest. The lines were long and the people were hungry…but we kept trying and kept trying…we went from no phone orders at all to my niece rerouting phone calls to her personal cell phone and taking calls from home, putting the orders in on our online system and keeping an open line of communication with us at the restaurant to know when we ran out of stuff and when it was still available. Then we switched over to having the orders being taken over the phone in the restaurant (that required more manpower), and curbside pickup. We had folks coming in a certain way so that we could take the orders from the passenger side window, to keep the social distancing)…and that is a system that we tweaked until we got it close to perfect….and now we still use that system. 4 years later we are 100% curbside pickup with online ordering, phone ordering and curbside ordering.

Had we not pivoted, I do not think we’d be open today…the pandemic hurt alot of businesses and we are fortunate that we are still standing!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.theoriginalronnies.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/originalronniesbbq
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/originalronniesbbq

Image Credits

Photography by Fred + Elliot Photography
Photography by Darrell Booker